War 'Hero' will open New Directors fest

'Murderball,' 'Junebug' also tapped for fest

By IAN MOHR

First-time helmer Zeze Gamboa's "The Hero" has been tapped to open the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA's New Directors/New Films lineup March 23.

Angola/Portugal/France co-production, which took the World Cinema dramatic jury prize at Sundance, centers on the aftermath of the civil war in Angola.

Fest runs through April 3.

A spate of additional Sundance films will have their day in the sun in Gotham, as the fest has also tapped Jeff Feuerzeig's documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro's docu "Murderball" (ThinkFilm) and Phil Morrison's "Junebug" (Sony Pictures Classics).

"Devil," "Murderball" and "Junebug" are some of just a handful of American films admitted to the fest this year. A U.S./Cuba co-production, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's "Young Rebels" also made the cut.

Another docu that will be highlighted is Hubert Sauper's "Darwin's Nightmare," a film about globalization as reflected in a Tanzanian eco-disaster.

France will have a strong showing of new voices at the fest. Gallic pics unspooling include Robin Campillo's "They Came Back," Abdelatif Kechiche's "L'Esquive" (New Yorker Films) and Ismael Ferroukhi's "Le Grand Voyage" (Film Movement).

Further pics with distribution in place include Matteo Garrone's "Primo Amore" (Strand), Saverio Costanzo's "Private" (Avatar), Eleonore Faucher's "Sequins" (New Yorker), Cate Shortland's "Somersault" (Magnolia) and Nimrod Antal's "Kontroll" (ThinkFilm).